Boom is not yours, PM tells miners

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has bluntly warned the mining industry that mineral resources belong to all Australians and Labor is determined to spread the benefits of the boom to working people, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Rejecting industry criticism of the rising costs of mining in Australia, Ms Gillard said Australia's economy was the envy of the world and there was no better place to invest.

''And here's the rub. You don't own the minerals. I don't own the minerals. Governments only sell you the right to mine the resource, a resource we hold in trust for a sovereign people,'' she told a mining industry dinner in Canberra last night.

''There's nowhere in the world you'd be better off investing. And there's nowhere in the world where mining has a stronger future. And this is Australia, and it has a Labor government.''

No new taxes planned for mining, says Ferguson

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson is hopeful the government will not impose any more taxes on the mining industry and has warned against unsustainably high wage increases that are not offset by productivity gains, The Australian Financial Review reports.

Speaking at the Minerals Council of Australia’s annual conference Wednesday, Ferguson was asked by MCA chief executive Mitch Hooke whether the government was “done with looking at the minerals industry as a bottomless pit for tax revenue”

Ferguson said the government’s business tax working group process would continue until the end of the year. But he said the government had not so far agreed to further tax imposts on the resources sector. “We hope that will continue,” he said.

The working group has previously examined measures such as reducing fuel tax rebates for off-road use and accelerated depreciation for the oil and gas industries and tax deductions for interest payments for multinational companies.

Headwinds for NSW power plant sale

Depressed wholesale power prices, competition issues, the carbon tax and subdued overseas interest are expected to combine to reduce bidder participation in the next wave of the NSW power sell-off, putting downward pressure on sales prices, the Australian Financial Review reports.

The assets, which are in effect those left over after NSW’s first, $5.3 billion wave of power privatisation in late 2010, will likely be examined by all the main local players.

But the various factors affecting the local generation industry, combined with the European debt crisis and the structure of the sale would make the sell-off difficult, JPMorgan utilities analyst Jason Steed said.

Boom benefits 'outweigh' harm to battlers

The Productivity Commission says the "undeniable" economic benefits of the mining boom are outweighing the harm being inflicted on struggling industries, such as manufacturing, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Chairman Gary Banks took aim at claims the economy is being hollowed out by the boom, leaving many Australians worse off.

After recent job shedding in manufacturing, Banks said the main pressure on the sector was due to higher domestic demand for services, rather than expansion of mining.

“What has happened is that the injection of wealth from the boom has fuelled increased domestic spending on goods and services," Banks said at a Minerals Week function in Canberra.